David and Goliath

Much like the story of David and Goliath, Ubisoft’s Watchdogs attempts to take on sandbox gaming’s Goliath: GTA V. I was reading this one article the other day and It got me thinking about what elements of a video game truly captivate me as a player.

It is strange to say I haven’t liked a single GTA title between the PS1 original and GTA IV but it’s true; and what got me interested in 4 wasn’t the half-baked story-line nor the shooting (because the guns where horribly bad in comparison to other games of that time). It was the physics engine (Euphoria) I believe it was called. The other thing was the multiplayer free roaming mode. Those two alone held the appeal that few games could ever measure up to in my eyes. The physics engine resulted in the first and last time to date that I have ever felt like I truly wrecked a car in a video game, no other game compared. The free roaming mode of GTA IV was quickly overshadowed by it’s sandbox successor Red Dead Redemption but kept me pleasantly occupied (goofing off with my friends terrorizing the locals of Liberty City with our guns and cars) until then. The engine and Free Roaming and the potential of a better experience with the guns in the game (what with the improvement seen in Red Dead Redemption and Max Payne 3) make me very excited for the game!

On the other hand, I have alraidy expressed my deep suspicion in a previous article that WatchDogs was not truly bringing in anything new to the genre as everything about it screamed “Recycled Assassin’s Creed!!!” Still, something about the E3 trailer of the game that suggested multiplayer promised excitement. The more I think about it the more I get the feeling that the game may likely be enjoyable but I still very doubt that it will be anything special.

So while I cannot judge which game will end up better until I play the two, I still have a strong feeling that I will not be wowed by WatchDogs although I am leaving some room for GTA V to attempt that. So in short, I don’t expect this face-off to end up the way the original story did.